Andy Roddick Keeps Grass-Court Streak Going With Wimbledon Win

June 28 (Bloomberg) -- Andy Roddick won his opening match
at Wimbledon a month after he was ousted in the first round of
the French Open.

The 29-year-old right-hander beat Britain’s Jamie Baker, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4, 7-5 in a match played over two days because of
rain delays. Roddick, a three-time finalist at the All England
Club, faces Germany’s Bjorn Phau in the second round today.

“The whole reason you play is to try to win something,”
the 30th-seeded Roddick said. “Winning is fun; losing sucks.”

Roddick entered a grass-court event in Eastbourne, England,
last week on a wild card after an unprecedented six-match losing
streak that included an opening-round loss in Paris to France’s
Nicolas Mahut.

Roddick won the Eastbourne tournament to tie 16-time Grand
Slam champion Roger Federer’s streak of taking at least one
title in 12 straight seasons. His semifinal victory also made
him the 19th player to reach 600 wins on the men’s tour.

Asking the organizer of the Aegon International at
Eastbourne for a wild card “was a desperate decision but a
necessary one,” Roddick said.

‘Perfect Scenario’

“It was kind of ‘Let’s try to get some matches’ and we got
a lot of matches,” Roddick said. “It went from not having won
anything to riding out a title pretty convincingly. It was what
I needed.”

Roddick, the last American man to win a major tennis
tournament at the 2003 U.S. Open, lost to Federer in the final
at Wimbledon in 2004, 2005 and 2009. He hasn’t been past the
quarterfinals at one of the sport’s four major tournaments since,
making him all the more appreciative of his victory in
Eastbourne.

“Last week was really nice because you don’t know when
they stop coming,” he said. “You have these little milestones,
like 600 wins, which are not possible when you’re young. Those
things are nice.”

To contact the reporter on this story:
Danielle Rossingh at Wimbledon through the London sports desk at
drossingh@bloomberg.net.